MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Earlier in the week, the Telegraph newspaper reported that the UK National Health Service was investigating an ambulance trust which made a decision to delay ambulances for patients who called the non-emergency 111 service. The trusts are supposed to send ambulances for all calls designated as "life-threatening," even if they came through the 111 helpline, within eight minutes.
At least 25 deaths are now being investigated after the South East Coast Ambulance trust "unilaterally" made up a system of delaying 111 calls, with some life-threatening cases waiting for up to 18 minutes, the Telegraph reported Friday.
This is not the first time the 111 service came under fire in recent months.
In July, local media revealed that the helpline denied people ambulances, even when they said they are experiencing symptoms consistent with a heart attack. The call handlers were reportedly pressured into not sending ambulances to patients at certain times of day due to a lack of paramedics.
The service was also said to be not coping due to lack of medically-trained staff.
